. >>> and now we look at the sobering news on education, and just how quickly the rest of the world is passing us by. we get details tonight from our chief education correspondent rehema ellis. >> reporter: the test results are in, and for american students the numbers are going in the wrong direction. about half a million students from 65 countries took the pisa exam, international tests of 15-year-olds given every three years. >> while 40 out of the 65 countries that participated in the test improved, the u.s. performance remained fundamentally flat. >> reporter: of 34 industrialized countries, the united states is nowhere near the top of the list. and since 2009, the last time the tests were taken, its ranking has dropped in all three subjects now placing 26th in math, 21st in science, and 17th in reading. >> we're running in place as other high-performing countries start to lap us. >> reporter: some of those ranking ahead of the united states are china, canada, germany, poland and latvia, even developing countries like vietnam. >> asian countries like korea, like japan, like taiwan